Christians Are In the Business of Healing (St. Luke's Day)

During the Management Training Course at Western, the question we learned to ask was: "What business are we in?" Many businesses and organizations fail because management is confused about what business they are really in. I tell the story of the Addison Adding Machine company (never heard of it?) which discovered it was not in the business of making and selling mechanical adding machines. Computers were a new thing. They were in the business of making international business machines - IBM. The dramatic moment when Jesus claims the mission of the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah reminds us of what business we are in. We are not in the business of saving people or planting and developing healthy churches. We are in the business of healing the relationship between God and His people. The prophecy tells us exactly and in depth how we are to do this.

1. We are anointed by the Holy Spirit for this mission

Why Were The Workers Few? (Proper 11)

This is a strange statement coming from Jesus in a country where religion was supposed to be central in everyone’s life. Something is terribly wrong. Something needs fixing. This is important to us now as we live in a similar time. We too are supposed to be Christians in a Christian Church - yet many people are sensing that something is very wrong. Do we to have lots of religion but little real Faith? We need to ask the same question as Jesus - why are the church workers few?”.

1. The workers are few because we have lost our mission

In Jesus time most people went to the synagogues and Temple - but for many, it was only an outward form. Their country was occupied by Roman soldiers. They were harassed and confused. They felt defeated. Instead of giving them hope, their ancient faith had not helped them against the Romans.

• It was a time like our own, when many people feel our own church is drifting without real spiritual direction or leadership.
• We feel like the people in the Gospel who were “...harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd...” (Matthew 9.36).

 2. Jesus had a clear mission of radical new teaching and healing

Church’s Mission is to Proclaim Healing & Freedom (Epiphany 3)

The story of Jesus reading the Isaiah Prophecy in the Synagogue and telling the people it was being fulfilled in their sight must have been a dramatic moment. Not only was Jesus claiming to be the long promised Messiah; He was re-defining the mission of the Messiah as preaching and proclaiming the love of God in healing and freeing His people. Those people, like us, were in deep spiritual darkness. They did not clearly know what God wanted. They did not all know how much God loved them. They did not all know how close a spiritual relationship God wanted to have with them. They did not understand the spiritual forces of evil that were deceiving them, blinding them and preventing them from coming into a relationship of joy with their God.

1. We are anointed to proclaim Good News of healing and freedom

People are starving for a relationship with God. Most people do not really know how to pray or what to expect. They are surrounded by conflicting and usually wrong information about what God wants. What they need is strong, authoritative preaching of the truth.

Where’s A Good Church?- Canadians Respond from the Pulpit, Podium and Pew (Book review and ministry effectiveness map)

This book was published in Canada in 1993 and the co-author Don Posterski gave a one day Workshop at the Toronto School of Theology in the same year. The other author, Irwin Barker was Senior Research Director at Angus Reid, one of Canada’s most respected public polling companies. They used a combination of 26 focus groups and 761 survey returns asking the most basic questions facing a church that is serious about examining itself and trying to figure out what it has to do to grow and thrive. The first question of course is “are we desperate enough to honestly examine our ministry and consider changing what we do if this will help us grow and thrive?” For some churches the honest answer is sadly no. St. Mark and St. Phillips in Calgary made this choice and are now selling their church. My hope is that the following Canadian research on what people in Canada are looking for in a “good church” - and the ministry mapping exercise will help the leadership in other declining churches find a better approach to ministry and thrive.

 1. What are the characteristics of a good church in Canada?